Molly & Cooper's Room Tour

Up first is my very favorite room in the whole house. This room has been my favorite in each place that we've lived, but I think this time, it's climbed to the top of my "best ever" list. It's hard to walk in here without smiling. 

It kind of just exudes happiness. :)

One of my most favorite parts of this room is how much of it is handmade, either by me or some of my best friends. I look all around and am reminded of all the people that love and care about my kids. :)

Ok, here we go!

Because everybody loves a good before and after: 

We said goodbye to the carpet and wallpaper, and hello to beautiful original hardwood floors and fresh paint. 

I also thought I'd include a before and after shot of Molly's kitchen, which we gave her for her second birthday back in May. I found this on Craigslist for super cheap, and just made a few changes. :)

That's it! 

Hopefully I'll be back soon with tours of the rest of the house. 

But count on it being later rather than sooner. :) 

the BEST kind.

Tonight as I sit here, exhausted from a day's work and waiting for my dear hubby to get home from our house, I read Nie's encouraging words, and this stuck out to me:

Family is hard work, but it is the best hard work that ever existed.

That's the truth, and it is echoing in my head tonight. 

Thank you, Lord, for my precious, beautiful family.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Stand fast.

truth. buy this print here.

Sometimes my morning time gets interrupted. Sometimes it's short, quick, and to the point. Other times I am able to take longer to bask in His presence (and sip a little more coffee). 

But the point is that He is here. In the thick of my mothering two young children. In the early mornings. In the sheer exhaustion. He is here. And He is more than enough for me.

I was reminded this morning in my She Reads Truth study (I'm a bit behind) while reading Peter's closing of his first letter: Stand fast in it (referring to God's grace).

Stand fast in His grace, in His mercy, in His abundance of love. Remain in Him, and He will remain in me. 
Apart from HIM, I can do nothing. (here)

So what does this practically look like for me? I'd love to share some of the things that work best for me. (And please know that I am still a work in progress, learning new things each day!) :)

*Morning quiet time. Like I said, long or short--it doesn't matter. Just spending time with Jesus, preparing my heart for the day. 

*Light a candle at the beginning of the day to remind yourself that you are representing the LIGHT OF THE WORLD to those in your household. 

*Put on some music and SING songs of worship! This always directs my heart to Jesus.

*Being grateful. When I'm tempted to complain and grumble about difficulties of my day (or more realistically, that specific moment), I am trying to remember to take a few seconds and look for God's abundant blessings. It's really tough to complain while seeing God's amazingness all around me. :)

*Get outside. A breath of fresh air is SO good for everyone in my household. A must to relieve the afternoon crankies.

*Take a bath. I've never been much of a bath person until recently when I discovered how completely amazing it is to sit still in a a dark bathroom, candles lit, no kids, and just BE. Even if it's for 10 minutes. I've decided that for me, this needs to happen once a week. 

For a few more super ideas for how to stay refreshed and connected to Jesus, please see this post. And be sure to read her story about falling FORWARD. I just love this analogy!

His space.

Little man will be residing in our bedroom for a while before he and Molly share a room. Of course, I wanted to make his space a little bit special and boyish. 

And if you know me, my desire was to do it on a dime! :)

His wall art:

This canvas was completely inspired by this post from this lovely lady. Originally from this lovely lady! 

How's that for inspiration?! Haha.

  Twigs found outside. Already had the canvas and felt on hand.

 

This was the only money I spent on his art. It's actually a card, but I knew it'd be perfect as a small print on his wall.

From here.

My dear friend, Kylee, made this for him. I cannot get over how well it fits with everything. I am absolutely in love with it. :)

And finally, a homemade mobile made from yarn pom-poms. :) 

This whole space makes me pretty happy. I'm giddy with excitement  just dreaming about the little guy that will soon grace us with his presence. 

***********

And YES! His name starts with the letter "C". 

Guess away, my friends. Guess away. :)

A day in the life.v2

This e-card cracks me up. 

But, it's not the reason for this post, I promise. 

I documented a day in our life last year, if you remember (see here). It's something I really enjoy reading over and over again, reminiscing of that particular season of life. I recently read Casey's and Lindsy's day-in-the-life posts, and decided I was due for another one. So if this is boring to you, sorry. It's a little more for me than you, haha. :) But if you're like me and enjoy reading these things, then, well, enjoy!!

7am- Wake up.

7:30am- Chris leaves for work. I sip on coffee and read through some blogs. Getting in some good me time. 

8am- Molly girl wakes up. For the first time ever, she calls for me from her bed: "Mommy! Mommy!" My heart literally swells with joy, and a few tears well up inside my eyes.

We snuggle for a good bit. She is so snuggly right when she wakes up. I love it. After snuggles, we change her diaper, get some milk, and she plays with her babies and new matryska dolls. 

9am- Breakfast time. Waffles and berries. Little girl must be going through a growth spurt because lately she's been a clean-plater almost ever meal, and asking for more! (Growing up, if we finished all our food, we were called a "clean-plater", haha)

9:15am- Clean up breakfast and warm up my coffee. 

The next couple of hours are a hodge podge of things:
*I have quiet time with the Lord. I've come to grips with the reality that this time period may shift through different seasons of life. 
*I work on our meal plan for the week and corresponding grocery list.
*Molly plays with her toys. She usually plays really well by herself for a good chunk of time. 
*We do puzzles together. We learn about colors, trying to keep repeating them and showing her different things around the house.  She'll pick up on it eventually!
*We read her favorite ABC book. She knows practically all of the animals.

11:15am- She's down for her first nap. I pulled out my sewing machine for the first time since preparing for my craft show and got to work on my pillowcase that I will take to the hospital when baby boy is born. You can read about Molly's here. 
My second project was a bow tie for a teenager in our church that has played drums for us the last couple of years. A few weeks ago, he said he wanted a bow tie and I told him I'd make him one. It think he thought I was kidding, so I hope he's excited! 

Yes, the pillowcase and bow tie were made with the same material! :)

1:15pm- Molly is up from her nap, but happily talking and playing in her bed, so she'll stay there for a little bit while I finish up a few things.

2pm- Lunch time. I make us a smoothie to drink first, and then prepare lunch. Usually, Molly and I have the same thing for lunch, but today she is having a PBJ, some cheese, and some raisins. I have leftover fish and some salt & vinegar chips. Yum.

Today's smoothie: banana, apple, spinach, & frozen peaches.

2:30pm- Lunch is over, dishes are cleaned up. Time to get ready to go on a walk, which is quite a process now that it's getting cold out. I think we spend more time getting ready than we do actually outside! Haha.

3:00pm- Leave for the grocery store. This takes longer than expected, mainly because halfway through, I have to slow my pace (like, s l o w) thanks to little boy. :) But in the end, my joy is found again thanks to the cashier giving Molly a ballon and her finding endless delight in it. 

4:15pm- After a quick Starbucks stop, we're home. I carry the groceries in (really should start letting hubby do that...) and stop for a few minutes to put my feet up and sip my mocha while it's warm. Molly is still wildly obsesses with her balloon, which she adorably calls, "moon". 

4:30pm- Molly goes down for another nap and I unload the groceries and then sit down and open the mail and packages we got. I'm crazy in love with this card I ordered to hang on baby boy's wall.

Ordered from here. The sweet shop owner even threw in this extra thank you card! :)

5:30pm- Chris is home from work. We catch up on our days a bit and then he gets Molly up and they play while I start cooking dinner.  

6:15pm- Dinner is served. Molly isn't too interested, so before long she's off and back to playing. 

7:30pm- We decide tonight would be a great night for ice cream at Farmhouse. Delicious sundaes, and a sample taste of their yummy caramel corn!

Watching the train that goes all the way around the store:

9:30pm- Molly goes down for bed. Time to relax! We start watching The Office--Chris's idea is to watch each season's Christmas episode over the next week. Great idea, right!?! :)
I work on editing pictures from the day and writing this post. Then it's time to knit--my nightly relaxation ritual. (And, let's be real, finishing up some Christmas gifts!) 

11pm- Time for bed. :) Night night, world!

Thankful Tree, 2012

Last year, we started the tradition of the thankful tree. You can read those here. 

This year, it was a little more thrown together, but I didn't want to forsake this month of focusing on gratitude. 

Here are this years, in picture form. :)